Sean Tarry’s Vercingetorix gelding Nebraas played himself into serious contention for Equus Champion Stayer honours with a courageous victory in Saturday’s R600 000 Marshalls World Of Sport Gr3 Gold Cup at Hollywoodbets Greyville.
Tarry last won the staying race a decade ago when it a R1 million Gr1 contest with Aslan, who was ridden by Gavin Lerena to beat stablemate Kolkata.
Richard Fourie (blue silks on Silver Host) looks across in frustration as Lyle Hewitson gets Nebraas home safely (Pic – Candiese Lenferna)
On Saturday, Tarry would have enjoyed watching Hewitson at his best as the team celebrated a feature double to mark the end of a tough season.
Bred and raced by Al Adiyaat South Africa, Nebraas came into the 3200m flagship staying contest on a hat-trick of victories and looked to have enjoyed a perfect prep with a smooth last victory in the Gr3 DSTV Gold Vase on Vodacom Durban July day.
Starting a 5-2 favourite, Nebraas was never far off the paces and enjoyed lumping a handy 52,5kgs around the city track.
Under a superbly judged ride, Nebraas came forward at the 250m and kept at his task as Silver Host unleashed his effort down the outside.
But Nebraas was always going smoothly and he beat Silver Host by a neck in a time of 208,28 secs.\
Fabian Habib’s SA Derby winner Out Of Your League (12-1) WAS another length away in third, with the winner’s stablemate Before Noon (20-1) giving the quartet a boost in fourth
The relatively lightly tried Nebraas, who is by the Gr1 Jebel Hatta winning sire Vercingerix (Silvano), is out of the Archipenko mare Noor Dubai.
Nebraas has won 4 of his 14 starts for earnings of R654 125.
Watch the replay here:
